I used up all my juices yesterday writing about Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box. I’m sure that “Metal Health” can drive you mad, but apparently looking at a bunch of music videos composed of loads of symbolism, surrealism, metaphors, and more can cause you to wind up with a migraine headache. With that in mind, I only have a couple of things to say.
According to Wikipedia, the music video was filmed in the Walt Disney Modular Theater and hallways of the California Institute of the Arts using students as extras. Walt Disney and a song about headbanging. I love connections.
It was filmed by Mark Rezyka who made about 50 or so music videos in the 80s. They seem to be primarily heavy metal and hard rock. He also happened to direct Billy Bob Thornton’s second movie called South of Reno (1988).
Patricia Friedman produced the music video. She seems to have at least produced around 20 music videos such as Weird Science by Oingo Boingo and Pretty In Pink by The Psychedelic Furs. Just like Rezyka, she appears to have continued to stay in the field of music, but moved on to music documentaries and concert films. She actually has a bio on mvdbase with more information about her work.
As if watching the first one again after all these years wasn’t hard enough, that director’s cut is even harder to watch. I am really thankful I am not director/photographer Anton Corbijn. Talk about a blessing, and a curse to have worked with those bands over the years. I mean considering he got his start with Joy Division, only to make the last music video with Nirvana about a decade later. Let’s not forget having made Enjoy The Silence and other things with Depeche Mode considering what happened with Dave Gahan.
Everyone seems to have talked about this music video on its own. I don’t intend to do that. I find it more interesting to look back at Corbijn’s earlier music videos to see where some of the notorious weirdness of this music video comes from and other visual ties to Nirvana in his work. Some things don’t translate well to only a still image, but otherwise, enjoy! I found all, but one or two music videos released prior to Heart-Shaped Box. Oh, and the heart appears a little over 30 seconds into his very first music video.
Hockey by Palais Chaumburg (1983)
Hockey by Palais Chaumburg (1983)
Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)
Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)
Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)
Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)
Dr. Mabuse by Propaganda (1984)
Red Guitar by David Sylvian (1984)
Seven Seas by Echo & the Bunnymen (1984)
Seven Seas by Echo & the Bunnymen (1984)
The Ink in the Well by David Sylvian (1984)
The Ink in the Well by David Sylvian (1984)
Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2 (1984)
Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2 (1984)
Bring on the Dancing Horses by Echo & the Bunnymen (1985)
Quiet Eyes by Golden Earring (1986)
Quiet Eyes by Golden Earring (1986)
A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)
A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)
A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)
A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)
Bedbugs and Ballyhoo by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)
Strangelove by Depeche Mode (1987)
Strangelove by Depeche Mode (1987)
Strangelove by Depeche Mode (1987)
Pimpf by Depeche Mode (1987)
The Game by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)
Lips Like Sugar by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)
Never Let Me Down Again by Depeche Mode (1987)
Never Let Me Down Again by Depeche Mode (1987)
Behind the Wheel by Depeche Mode (1987)
Blueprint by Rainbirds (1988)
Blueprint by Rainbirds (1988)
My Secret Place by Joni Mitchell & Peter Gabriel (1988)
Atmosphere by Joy Division (1988)
Atmosphere by Joy Division (1988)
Headhunter by Front 242 (1988)
Love is a Better Word (White City of Light) by Rainbirds (1989)
Love is a Better Word (White City of Light) by Rainbirds (1989)
Sea of Time by Rainbirds (1989)
Sea of Time by Rainbirds (1989)
Faith and Healing by Ian McCulloch (1989)
Faith and Healing by Ian McCulloch (1989)
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode (1989)
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode (1989)
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode (1989)
Killer Wolf by Danzig (1990)
Killer Wolf by Danzig (1990)
Killer Wolf by Danzig (1990)
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode (1990)
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode (1990)
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode (1990)
Policy of Truth by Depeche Mode (1990)
World in My Eyes by Depeche Mode (1990)
World in My Eyes by Depeche Mode (1990)
May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)
May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)
May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)
May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)
Clean by Depeche Mode (1991)
Two Faces by Rainbirds (1991)
Marie by Herbert Grönemeyer (1991)
Marie by Herbert Grönemeyer (1991)
Marie by Herbert Grönemeyer (1991)
Tragedy (For You) by Front 242 (1991)
Tragedy (For You) by Front 242 (1991)
Halo by Depeche Mode (1991)
One by U2 (1992)
Hail Hail Rock ‘n’ Roll by Garland Jefferys (1992)
Lover Lover Lover by Ian McCulloch (1992)
Straight to You by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (1992)
I don’t have a lot to say about this music video. It’s the Beastie Boys having fun with Japanese monster movies just like they did with Danger: Diabolik (1968) for the Body Movin’ music video. They even filmed parts of it in Japan. It was directed by Adam Yauch under the pseudonym Nathaniel Hornblower. What I mostly have to say about this is the interesting copyright/version issues that seem to be at work here.
You may have noticed that video above is not official. I’m pretty sure you can find any other Beastie Boys music video on YouTube, but not this one. Well, not since sometime after September 14th, 2009 as you can see where EMI once had it posted. You can find the song posted twice as part of this new YouTube music thing they have been doing.
You’ll hear that both of them are missing something that is in the music video. It is also missing from my copy that I obtained from iTunes a few years ago. According to Wikipedia, it was on the album. This song originally began with a sample of Stravinsky’s ballet Rite of Spring. I guess they must have lost the rights, or didn’t think it was worth it. How much you wanna bet it was after the Men at Work fiasco over the flute riff in Down Under in 2009?
The Wikipedia article on Rite of Spring makes it look like it’s very well-known, but is a nightmare of a piece when it comes to copyright and different versions of it.
Songfacts sorta comes to my rescue here. They say it opens with a sample from Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky that was edited out of the radio version. From what I can tell, the version I posted at the start samples the beginning of Night on Bald Mountain.
However, the version I linked to that is on VEVO and embedded from Dailymotion does sample from Rite of Spring as you can hear below.
According to Songfacts and Wikipedia, they also incorporated Les Baxter’s version of Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude C-sharp Minor” and “Love is Blue” by The Jazz Crusaders. I’ve embedded the first one and a different version of the second one below.
I couldn’t pick out those in the song. I also don’t know for sure what was on the original album cause I don’t own a hard copy. Wikipedia also seems to indicate that there were two different versions of the music video to begin with, but doesn’t shine any light on the online posting situation from what I can see.
It’s always an adventure when I sit down to write one of these posts. Enjoy!
I have very little to say about this music video. It was the first one fully directed by Rob Zombie. According to Wikipedia, the title and lyrics draw from Philip K. Dick’s book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, more commonly known by its’ film adaptation, Blade Runner (1982). The music video is taken from several places. Some of it was shot in the halls of Framingham High School, Framingham, Massachusetts and on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard. The home video footage is just that. It’s of Rob, his brother, Michael Cummings of the band Powerman 5000, and a cousin.
If you’ve heard the song, then you know that there is orgasmic moaning at the beginning of the song that is missing from the music video. That is from the post-apocalyptic film Café Flesh (1982). I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but I do hear really good things about it. I would not be surprised if this music video is inspired more by it than Philip K. Dick. It fits with the post-apocalyptic feel of the music video while also touching on the whole implanted memories thing from Blade Runner as represented by the home movie footage. I’m sure there are more tie-ins with Café Flesh, but I haven’t seen it yet. I can only really tell you that the apocalypse left the majority of the population unable to have sex without getting sick while the rest are forced to perform onstage for them.
Yeah, that certainly is Ronnie James Dio showing us why he was a fantastic singer, but had a bit of a rough start in music videos. As much as I still love this one, it is largely to see him trying to look like someone who is taking their job seriously, but coming across as stiff as Alan Bagh in Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010).
I never really thought about this song or music video much until recently. To me it’s Dio once again drawing on his upbringing that famously turned the Italian evil-eye hand gesture into the favorite of faux-Christians as something Satanic. I thought of it as Ronnie going in to vanquish the Devil that has taken seat in the Church. Maybe that’s the thought process that was going on in Clear Channel’s mind when they included this song on their list of songs they sent to the stations they owned as songs they might not want to play shortly after 9/11. It wasn’t a blacklist, but just a suggestion. I understand that. You wouldn’t want to be playing It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. in the days immediately following the attacks. But I find it hilarious that while AC/DC has the most songs on the list–Thunderstruck is not one of them (there are numerous military montages set to that song on YouTube). Yet, Peace Train by Cat Stevens is on the list.
This time Quora came to my rescue as to an interpretation of the song and music video. Basically, it’s about Jesus Christ–the Holy Diver–coming to Earth, delivering the New Testament, being crucified, and then rising back to Heaven having fooled the Devil and redeemed humanity. It fits with the music video. Dio takes the sword that represents the Word of God as the ultimate weapon to deal with the Devil that had taken foot in humanity between the Old and New Testaments as represented by the decaying church. I would say that in the music video, when he gets the newly forged sword, he is tossing aside the Old Testament for the New Testament. The analysis on Quora is more detailed if you are interested.
One of the best things about the music video for Holy Diver is that someone took Pat Boone’s cover version and combined it with the music video. I know this kind of thing bothers some people, but I find it priceless to hear Pat Boone essentially cheering on Ronnie’s character as he goes on his mission.
I have a feeling that director/editor Arthur Ellis would probably approve seeing as he did make the short film Stanley Kubrick Goes Shopping (2001) where you see Kubrick buy the same item 193 times to make sure he has shopped perfectly. He seems to have only done a few music videos, and primarily worked on TV Shows.
Adam Whittaker was the producer of this music video. He and Ellis teamed up to also do Rainbow in the Dark for Dio. He only has a few credits in music videos, but like producers and video commissioners, I’m sure there are plenty more that are undocumented.
First things first here. Yes, that is Milton Berle in the music video both as the husband and wife. He agreed to be in the music video because his nephew Marshall Berle was the manager of the band at the time. It’s interesting to note that while Wikipedia says he is his nephew, mvdbase says that he is Milton’s grandson. Thankfully the Wikipedia article on Milton Berle also states he is his nephew, so I think we can safely say that’s the case. The Google Knowledge Graph also says that Milton Berle’s only grandchild is Tyler Roe via his son William Berle.
The second thing is about who the woman is in this that is drawn to the attic where Ratt is apparently playing for the convienent brittle floor that makes for a great guitar solo scene when guitarist Warren DeMartini crashes through it. That woman is Lisa Dean. She would go on to play Diana in the music video for Michael Jackson’s Dirty Diana. She died of colon cancer in December of 2009 at the age of 50.
I guess the last thing to bring up about this video is that it doesn’t matter how many times I watch it, the butler is still the real star of the show. The information I provided above is all over the Internet, but I can’t find who played the butler. I can find that apparently the song is about a girl who initially pushes a guy away, but ends up coming back to him. I guess that’s the reason they play in that attic a la John Cusack in Say Anything… (1989) till she turns into a rat (???), and comes to them. I can find a person that thinks this is sexist and refuses to show it to their kid, but still loves it regardless. As somebody who is transgender, I could find that it’s transphobic, but whatever, it’s Round and Round by Ratt. I don’t care. Yet, the most simple thing, like who is the awesome butler, is lost to the sands of time. This is particularly sad when he is not just the real star, but the music video is arranged like a mystery about who let the band in the house, and it of course turns out to be the butler.
Anyways, I was able to find out that Ken Barrows was the 1st assistant camera on the music video. He worked on music videos such as Hold On by Wilson Phillips and Burning Up by Madonna. It looks like he is still working in music videos today as I can find a credit as recent as 2015. Outside of music videos, he has also worked on movies such as The Master (2012) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991).
So, enjoy this ridiculous music video for a band that would have probably been long forgotten without it, and don’t take it seriously.
Years before John Landis exposed the American werewolf invasion of London, Warren Zevon was already warning us that native London werewolves were taking over the city.
There! That’s the requisite joke that anyone who talks about this undocumented music video from the 1970s has to make. It also has actual ties to An American Werewolf in London (1981). On the DVD Commentary for the film, David Naughton and Griffen Dunne say they didn’t know why Landis didn’t obtain the rights to use this song since they felt it would have been appropriate for the movie. Then again, what made him or Michael Jackson think that ridiculous quote at the beginning of Thriller would keep people from making accusations that Michael Jackson was involved in the occult.
I’m not sure what else to say that wouldn’t be just delving into the history of Warren Zevon himself except for one thing. If you thought the werewolf from Ozzy Osbourne’s Bark at the Moon was ridiculous, then let me tell you that Zevon can top that.
I highly recommend taking at look at this otherwise unremarkable music video that is made priceless by cutaways to the werewolf just walking around like a normal werewolf on the town looking for a bite to eat.
I am not going to talk about the background of the song or album. There’s a reason I usually stay away from behind-the-scenes stuff, and stick with the finished product. It’s a great song–end of story for me on that matter.
The music video is cheesy fun. It’s Ozzy Osbourne going around like he’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Wolf with the occasional cutaway to band members. It was partially filmed at an actual sanatorium. That sanatorium being Holloway Sanatorium.
My favorite thing I found on this music video was that in at least two places online they bring up that this was early on for music videos, which is why it looks the way it does. Not true. They had been around for a lot longer prior to 1983 in the modern form. Abba did a music video for Waterloo in 1974 and many more throughout the 1970s. You can go back even further to the 1960’s music video for Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles. The same year as Bark At The Moon, we had stuff like Shooting Shark and Love Is A Battlefield that are a far cry from this music video.
I think it looks the way it does because it was directed by Mike Mansfield who also brought us Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant. If you look at several of the music videos that he did for Adam Ant around the time, then you’ll notice they have this stagey/theatrical look about them. I’m willing to bet they hired him because the people involved liked the style Mansfield was using in the Adam Ant/Adam & The Ants music videos that not only look the same as this one, but were mostly made in the years right before 1983. The best example to look at is Stand And Deliver that was done in 1981. In fact, you can look several other artists he did music videos for at the time such as Charlotte Sometimes by The Cure and Love Blonde by Kim Wilde to see the same kind of style.
I know I can’t speak for everyone, but I first became aware of and fell in love with this song when it became The Smoking Man’s theme from The X-Files. It was also used in the Scream films. I don’t really watch TV of any kind these days, but from what I have read, the song has also been used on the show Peaky Blinders. In addition, it has become the inspiration for a Dr. Seuss Book in Australia.
The title of song comes from the phrase “red right hand” in John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost referring to the vengeful hand of God. Songfacts says the song itself is a “semi-comically melodramatic take on Stephen King’s novel The Stand [depicting] a nightmarish figure emerging on ‘the edge of town.'” Thank you once again, Songfacts!
It has been a couple of years since I read the book, but it’s difficult to forget the character of Trashcan Man. As I recall, he was largely left out of mini-series, but he has an interesting storyline that runs parallel with the main plot. He really is the most important character because it is him that brings the WMD to Las Vegas that allows God to reach down in order to destroy the den of sin that Randall Flagg has created there. The “Red Right Hand”. The lyrics of the song, and the music video itself are what come to your mind when you are reading the Trashcan Man sections. He is a deeply troubled person who has a rather horrifying journey, but one that pulls him eventually to Las Vegas as if he has been called on high to be the enabler of the hand of God on Earth. The evil figure spoken of and portrayed as a serial killer in the music video could be Randall Flagg (essentially the Anti-Christ) and/or the murderous The Kid who was left out of the original printing of the book.
It is always interesting to see them using black and white past the 80s in music videos. Otherwise it is a simple music video that follows the dark narrative that–much like Jace Everett’s Bad Things–could be placed over any scenes with characters that are evil in some fashion, and it wouldn’t seem out of place. I can see why YouTube recommends a video of Psycho Killer by Talking Heads when I finish watching the music video. I can also see why it has been used so many times in film and television since its’ release.
Director Jesse Dylan has done 30+ music videos. You might also know him as the director of American Wedding (2003) and Kicking & Screaming (2005).
Much to my surprise, this song was released three years prior to being selected as the theme song of the TV Show True Blood. In fact, the song didn’t even chart at the time. I was going to say here that Jace Everett seems to have picked up where Chris Isaak left off, but the Wikipedia article already did that for me. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine’s review for Allmusic, he compared it to Isaak’s song Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing, only “less menacing and a little rowdier.” He’s right. The songs do share a lot in common. I would say that they both also share that thing with the song Little Red Riding Hood where it seems innocent enough till you play it over dark images and/or video. That certainly explains the multitude of fan-made videos that do just that with Bad Things.
Sadly, the music video for the song is pretty generic. The only artistic touch I can see is when the tint changes from something bright to a darkness when the song lyrics call for it. Otherwise, it is pretty much there to put the primary focus on Everett with the woman he is singing about thrown in while barely playing a role in it. I took a look at another Jace Everett music video, and this tint shift seems to be a thing they repeated at least twice.
Director Kristin Barlowe directed the music video. I can find only 15 credits for sure that she did in the area of music videos, but based on her IMDb page, she has done far more, and continues to work in this field today.
I was able to find an interesting little interview with Jace Everett over on People Magazine’s website. There isn’t a whole lot there, but it is interesting to hear some of the backstory on the song from Everett himself. The most interesting thing he mentions is that country radio really didn’t agree that the song could have been a hit when it was released. That doesn’t surprise me since country radio has been under very tight control for many decades.
Through the Shattered Lens 